Power Ploy
Power Ploy is the 80th episode of Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. It can be interpreted as a criticism of energy drinks and a warning about their effects, though it also shows that they can sometimes come in handy. It is notable for including a pair of drinks that resemble the Energy Drink, for featuring muscular redesigns of many characters (including Kirby), and for being the only episode where the monster is not defeated by a Copy Ability. Synopsis When King Dedede complains that all the monsters he orders from eNeMeE fail, the N.M.E. Sales Guy sends a power boosting drink called Pump Up D to King Dedede to make up for it. However, Escargoon worries that this boost may be too dangerous and orders a power draining drink called Power Down E to make people lazy. Episode Summary The episode starts with King Dedede complaining to Customer Service about how Kirby always defeats the monsters he orders from Nightmare Enterprises, then scenes from A Half-Baked Battle, Sweet & Sour Puss, Buccaneer Birdy, and The School Scam play. Customer Service then drinks a bottle, and King Dedede asks what he is drinking, and Costumer Service says that it is a drink for people who get stressed out, and not for people like King Dedede. King Dedede says that the last night he was working all night, which makes Customer Service surprised, and he then reccomends that he should buy the new Pump Up D that can will boost up a person's muscle mass in no time. King Dedede orders the drink, but before he drinks it, Escargoon wonders what is it. King Dedede says that it must be full of healthy stuff, and says that Escargoon should look at the label to see what it says. However, the label is completely empty which makes them both worried. King Dedede then has the idea of testing the drink on the Cappies. Meanwhile, Chef Kawasaki walks past Gengu and has a small conversation with him. Chef Kawasaki finds a drink machine, which makes him very surprised. He asks Gengu what the machine is, and Gangu says that he doesn't know and has never seen the drink machine before. Kawasaki buys a bottle and drinks it, making him super energized. Chief Bookem and Doron, who is handcuffed, walks past the drink machine, and Chief Bookem complains that if Doron worried about work as much as he worries about crime, he would be rich. Gengu says that what Doron needs is a bottle of Pump Up D, and Chief Bookem buys a bottle of the drink and gives it to Doron. He drinks it and becomes very muscular, and breaks the handcuffs and runs away. Chief Bookem buys a bottle and drinks it, then he starts chasing Doron. After Gengu catches the bottle Bookem throws to him, Melman comes hobbling by complaining how he couldn't deliver the mail when he couldn't deliver himself. Gengu then offers Melman to buy Pump Up D. Melmen then bought the drink and reluctantly drank it. Like Bookem and Doron, Melmen became muscular with the addition of his eyebrows rising from his eyes. Melmen then swung a home run into the trash can with an empty bottle, and then chases Buttercup and Hana who happen to walk nearby. At Doctor Yabui's office, a bluish patient Cappy lies sickly in bed asking if there's anything the doctor can do. Doctor Yabui sadly says there's no cure ... unless the patient drinks some Pump Up D (which Yabui held up as he said this). The patient drank the Pump Up D to turn from blue to red with muscles and sped out of the doctor's office (leaving a hole in the wall). Yabui then said, "what do ya know? This stuff works!" Back at the castle, Dedede and Escargoon have been observing the Cappies' intake effects of Pump Up D from a balcony. King Dedede then rushes back to the throne room to pour himself a cup of the drink. Escargoon then tries to warn King Dedede not to drink Pump Up D since the both of them don't know what's in it. (A few 3D images show how Pump Up D gets to the body through the bloodstream). After Dedede stops rolling his eys, he drops his mug, spins like a tornado, and drops next to Escargoon to show off the king's buffed up bod. Escargoon then tries to run away, only to get dragged by King Dedede (arming himself with a belt of Pump Up D) to run/swim 100mi/hr around Dreamland. (Hence Escargoon ending up to say "what a drag.") The rest of the Cappies then crowd around the new Pump Up D vending machine. Tiff, Tuff, and Kirby push their way through the crowd and watch as Gengu hands out bottles of Pump Up D. Tuff recognizes the man on the machine to be Customer Service, but Tiff decides to try out the drink and buy one. The bottle was then brought to Kurio's Emporium where Kurio and Tiff work together to uncover the synthesized materials in Pump Up D. Kurio reveals that nothing in Pump Up D is natural and that it's all chemicals (ex: Tiff points out that there's a "poly-carbo-phosphate"). Kurio then finds that the main ingredient is "Quickzine" and points out it gives energy, but the substance is dangerous. Back in town, everyone prances around after drinking loads of Pump Up D, and Tuff and Kirby watch, and then follw Kawasaki pushing a wheelbarrow-full of Pump Up D into his restaurant to add to his stew. Kawasaki then served the concoction, dubbed "Stamina Stew", to Samo. Samo then took a bite, not expecting a miracle. Samo turned red and his hair and moustache flared up, and then said, "it's not like mom's stew!" Samo then fled the restaurant, leaving an unfinished plate of Stamina Stew. Kirby then went in the restaurant, and Kawasaki lets Kirby finish up Samo's plate of Stamina Stew. Tuff watches in shock and tries to stop Kirby from eating that stew. When Tiff arrives on the scene, Kirby's body already contains Pump Up D. (During this moment, the noises in Kawasaki's restaurant indicate Kirby literally "bouncing off the walls.") Kirby then flies out of Kawasaki's restaurant (breaking the roof in the meantime) as Tuff goes to chase him with Tiff shouting at Tuff for not stopping Kirby. The two of them then chase Kirby. Kirby lands into a bunch of Dedede statues, runs up a tree, and then inhales with a failed attempt trying to swallowing a tree trunk at first. Kirby tries again and sucks up another Dedede statue to turn into Stone Kirby. Stone Kirby then became the Blocky form of Kirby, crashing through buildings and then running into the forest while bringing down trees. Back at the castle, King Dedede keeps on boxing Waddle Dees all over the boxing ring like there's no tomorrow. Escargoon warns King Dedede that he's gonna box out his entire army, then Dedede says he's ready to box out the entire kingdom. Escargoon asks what happens if Dreamland gets attacked, only to get socked along with Waddle Doo as Dedede says, "I can defend us alone." After getting piled on by the beaten Waddle Dees, Escargoon decided to talk to Customer Service to complain about the distribution of Pump Up D. Customer Service then states that there is an antidrink and delivers a big drink tank of Power Down E, an energy reduction drink. Escargoon then orders the Waddle Dees to replace the vending machines in town with those containing Power Down E while getting rid of Pump Up D. Meanwhile, Tiff and Tuff looking through a Stone Kirby shaped hole in a tree trunk as they search through the forest to find Kirby. They eventually found him drained of energy on a broken tree stump. Night came, and then Dedede puts on a night show where everyone dances as they keep it moving with Pump Up D. (Dedede even claims to replace every drink in Dreamland with Pump Up D.) Sir Ebrum and Ladylike watch in disgust and Ladylike says no thank you to drinking Pump Up D to be like Dedede. Somewhere along the night, King Dedede and everyone else in Cappy Town suddenly stopped moving faster, indicating the effects of Pump Up D have worn out. King Dedede then rushes to throne room and demands Pump Up D from Escargoon, who handed the king Power Down E instead unknowingly to the king. King Dedede shortly then fell down to go to sleep. Morning struck as Tiff and Tuff walk back to Cappy Town with Kirby on a crafted stretcher. Tiff notices how suspiciously quiet the town is and asks people if they're ok. Kawasaki then worries about how he's going to sell the tableful bowls of Stamina Stew. Hana and Buttercup watch over Chief Bookem and the Mayor lying beside the town's center tree. Tiff asks if everything's alright, and the Mayor replies that he's not sick. Hana and Buttercup then explain how both men collapse upon drinking what they believe to be Pump Up D when it's supposed to give energy. Tiff and Tuff look back at Kirby still sleeping. Back at the castle (for the third time), King Dedede lies on the throne room floor awake at the throne as he watches the Monster Delivery System activate on its own. Customer Service then states how it's a good time to use Red Viper since Kirby is all pooped out from the intake of Pump Up D. Dedede then lets Customer Service deal with Kirby since the king himself is tired and blue. Customer Service then sends Red Viper to attack Kirby. Gallery KawasakiBuff.jpg|Kawasaki gets buff! DoronBuff.jpg|Doron gets buff! BookemBuff.jpg|Chief Bookem gets buff! DededeBuff.jpg|King Dedede gets buff... to Escargoon's dismay. KirbyPumpUp.jpg|Stone Kirby runs wild in Cappy Town after destroying a house. Changes in the Dub *The words on both the Pump Up D and the Power Down E bottles were airbrushed out in the dub. *A couple of scenes involving Samo and his bar where cut from the dub. *In the Japanese script, the name of the dangerous special ingredient that Professor Curio discovers in Pump Up D is "Cocagine." This was changed to avoid drug references, and it could be a reference to how Coca-Cola originally contained cocaine as a main ingredient from 1886 to 1903. Trivia *This is the only episode where Kirby does not use a Copy Ability to defeat the monster. *This is also the only episode where Kirby gets a Copy Ability, but not to fight a monster or solve a conflict. *No female character drank the Pump Up D or the Power Down E. *This is the first episode Kirby goes to space ever since he landed on Dream Land in the first episode. *This is another episode where Kirby defeats a monster using the sun (the first one being Popon) *The twirling method Kirby used to throw Red Viper into the sun is also the method Mario used to spin Bowser into a spiked bomb in Super Mario 64. *King Dedede somewhat resembles his design when he drinks Pump Up D when he gets possessed by the Jamba Heart in Kirby Star Allies. es:La Súper Bebida